This is our last blog post for 2024. We are currently on the island of Aegina (pronounced Egg-in-a), where we have lifted SCII out of the water. This was a new experience for us, as it is the first time lifting out somewhere other than Gocek.

We have lifted out SCII a few days earlier than planned. The boat lift at the yard on Aegina is exposed to northerly winds that make it impossible to lift or launch when the wind is too strong. We had a weather window a few days earlier than planned so went with that and stayed an extra few days on the island. We had done most of the preparation work for lift-out while at anchor, including taking off the heavy sails that are 17 meters x 7.5 meters. Folding them on the deck of the boat is not easy! We were lucky to get one day in Aegina harbour, which is notoriously difficult to find a berth. This enabled us to wash most surfaces with fresh water before going into the yard, as well as cleaning out our two refrigerators and the freezer and packing things away for the winter.



Since lift-out, we have travelled around the island visiting some of the sights. This includes exploring villages on the island, the temple of Aphaia and the Monastery of Nectarious. The temple of Aphaia was built between 500 and 490BC. It is amazing the precision of the construction, given when it was built and the equipment available.



We did plan on visiting Paliao Chora which is a very early settlement on the island but it was closed because of the current fire risk. Paliao Chora has 36 small churches remaining of the original 365 (one for every day of the year). The churches reported have beautiful frescos but we could only see the churches dotting the hillside from afar. Oh well! We have to leave something for next year when we return.



Speaking of fire risk, there are currently a lot of serious fires burning around Athens just to our north. We have at times seen a lot of smoke, although most of it is not coming directly over us.

We also caught up with Jenny from Queensland who owns the sailing boat Far Away II. We met Jenny in Kos last year and she recommended the boat yard where we are wintering SCII. We enjoyed a lovely lunch with her at Souvala, discussing all thing sailing and places we have visited.



Summary of 2024
This year we have travelled about 900 miles (1600 km) and used 410 litres of diesel for the 4 ½ months. We've visited the islands of Serifos, Poros, Dhokos, Agristri, Aegina for the first time as well as areas of the mainland Greece along the Eastern Peloponnese and the Saronic Gulf. We would have liked to spend more time in the Cyclades islands on the way here from Türkiye but by the time we got to the Cyclades the Meltimi winds had well and truly set in. It was just too windy in that area to enjoy it. The Saronic Gulf has much more settled and predictable weather patterns although not always enough wind for sailing. Can't have everything!

This year there was a disappointing number of dolphin sightings and only one turtle seen while swimming - although it was a very large one. A couple of fishing lures have done quite a few miles while travelling with no fish being tempted. No squid or other fish caught but we didn't try very hard!

SCII has been pretty good to us this year. We had to get the anchor roller assembly repaired and the blockage in the cooling system fixed. We also replaced the service batteries that were only 2 years old. Hopefully these new ones last longer! Our new fridge / freezer is working well despite the challenge of working in a very hot temperatures at times. Out hottest day was 39 degrees, with an overnight low of a sweltering 32 degrees.

We still love SCII and have enjoyed our times sailing the coast of Turkiye and the numerous Greek islands. Thanks to Ton and Bram for keeping SCII in good condition in the past. A very special thank you for Ahmet, who has done all the maintenance work on SCII for the last few years. We will miss having you point us in the right direction when it comes to looking after SCII.

Plans for 2025
In 2025 our current plan is to travel though the Corinth canal to the Ionian Sea, spending May and June revisiting the Ionian islands - last time we were in the Ionian was over 20 years ago. Then we plan to head to Albania and Montenegro, which enable us to do the Schengen Shuffle and manage our 90-day visa. We think we will possibly come back to Preveza in Greece where we will winter SCII in 2025.

For now, we are off to Athens for a few days then to Bulgaria for a 2-week road trip.

We have a sailing boat and if possible, we try to sail from one place to another. Sometimes we will delay travel to try and get the best weather window to make this possible. We left Ermioni to travel to the island of Poros, about 30 nautical miles away (55Km). The forecast was for northerly winds, 15 to 20 knots, we were heading mostly East so should be perfect!

Started off in very light winds but it soon picked up from the North so up with the sails, engine off and away we go. But not for long.... After about 15 minutes the wind dropped away again and became very variable, in fact the wind direction did a full 360 degrees around us so down with the sails and motoring again. Half an hour or so later the wind came up again from the NE but looked like it might soon get stronger and gusty. We put out just a small amount of the genoa to help drive into the wind. Within a short time, we had strong gusts of over 30 knots (55 KPH) and just a small amount of sail out. As we neared the island of Poros, although the wind was directly in front of us it was dropping and by the time we anchored there it was just a light breeze. We didn't get the good sailing conditions we hoped for!

Poros island lies just off the coast of the Peloponnese and is separated from mainland Greece by a narrow channel about 200m wide. As we navigated through the channel to Poros town, a massive big ferry was headed in our direction. There are very strict speed limits enforced in the channel, so we did not get the normal amount of ferry wash as the ferry slid past us. Sadly we did not get this on video as the GoPro batteries were flat. Poros town is very busy with lots of boats coming and going. We had anchored in a nearby bay the night before and arrived at about 11 am. There was plenty of space in the harbour but by 4pm the harbour was full, with boats milling around looking for somewhere to moor.

As Poros is a big town we had lots of options for provisioning SCII. Using Google maps we located two supermarkets close to where SCII was tied up. We entered the first supermarket to discover that it had no food but only contained cleaning products and toiletries. While we thought this was a bit strange, we moved onto the next supermarket. It was well stocked with fruit, vegetables, all other food stuffs and alcohol but it did not have any toiletries or cleaning products. It turned out the supermarket was split over two different locations.

Shopping in Greek supermarkets is very different from shopping at home. The isles are barely wide enough for a trolley, in fact often you must hunt to find a trolley, as most Greeks do not use them. They tend to do small shops much more often compared to our larger weekly shops. The concept of reducing plastic and reusing shopping bags is just starting to take hold here in Greece. This year is the first year where many supermarkets are selling reusable shopping bags. Although I think it will take some time to wean the Greek shops off plastic bags. Even when I go to the bakery with my own bag, many shop assistants still want to put it in a plastic bag, even though the bread is wrapped in paper.

We had a lovely meal in Poros at a taverna called Poseidon, which did a modern twist on classical Greek foods. We ordered grilled vegetables which came with basil and balsamic vinegar, seafood dolma wrapped in a cooked lettuce leaf with lemon sauce and a raw tuna salad. It was delicious and washed down with cold rosé.



From Poros we have anchored out around the island of Angistri and along the Methana peninsula. We have enjoyed days of swimming, relaxing and eating aboard. The water is crystal clear, you can see the bottom clearly in 10m of water, as well as all the very little fish. One of the joys of anchoring out is sitting on the back of SCII with a glass of wine watching the stunning sunsets. Photographs do not really do justice to the sensational colours.







We are currently tied up in the tiny harbour of Vathi on the Methana Peninsula. It is a quaint little fishing village, with only room for 6 or 7 yachts. The harbour is very quiet and does not have the hustle and bustle of Poros but it is delightful. The harbour is surrounded by fish restaurants, so I think it might be fresh local fish for tea tonight.


We only have 2 weeks left on SCII for this year before she is lifted out for the winter. The time has gone so quickly.

The weather here is hot, with day-time temperatures reaching 37-39 degrees and overnight lows of 29-30 degrees. Last night the overnight temperature did not get below 32 degrees. The fans in our cabin are getting quite a workout overnight and help us stay cool. We have good shade covering for SCII, which allows us to keep out of the sun. We are constantly having regular dips in the water, 5-6 times a day, including a swim and shower before going to bed. At the time of writing this blog, we had already had our second swim of the day at 10am. The digitallybcalibrated toe suggests the water temperature is about 25 degrees, the meat thermometer suggests it is a bit warmer at 26.7 degrees.

We have spent the last couple of weeks exploring the gulfs and bays of the eastern Peloponnese. We have spent our time mainly anchored in picturesque bays with crystal clear water rather than in towns, as this allows us the opportunity to jump off the back of SCII for a swim. Sometimes we have had bays to ourselves and in other bays it has been quite crowded, especially on the weekends.

We did spend two days in the village of Ermioni. This allowed us to reprovision, get washing done and the mandatory visit to the port police. As a foreign boat we have a transit log that needs to be regularly (about once a fortnight or when we are in a port) checked by the Greek port police. We need to identify where we have come from and what will be our next port. For every visit to the port police, they photocopy our documents (boat papers, insurance, crew list etc), nothing is recorded electronically and every visit is different. Some are very friendly and helpful, while others are grumpy and rude. At Ermioni, Glenn rang the door bell on the office to be greeted by the port police officer with a mask, explaining that he had Covid. Glenn waited outside while he processed the paperwork and received our transit log with the appropriate stamp. That was five days ago and thankfully there have been no signs of Covid on SCII. Something that we have both managed to avoid so far.





Ermioni is a pretty town and most of the tourism is from visiting yachts. Restaurants line the waterfront, which has lovely views across the gulf to the islands of Dhokos and Hydra. We enjoyed some lovely seafood meals including local muscles which were steamed, with a rocket salad and saganaki.








We have been asked how we go with our internet connection. Both of our phones have what is called eSIM capability. We both have purchased an international roaming plan for our eSIMs that gives us a data connection anywhere in Europe. We have found these quite reliable and it is rare that we do not have a connection, even in some of the more remote areas. We can listen to the ABC radio in the morning, read the news to catch up on what is going on at home, upload YouTube videos, update our blog and most importantly get the local weather forecast.

Tomorrow we will be heading to the Saronic Gulf and the island of Poros. We hope we can get into the harbour. Not sure how that will go as you can't book a place and we expect it will be busy.

We have escaped the windy Cyclade islands and after a seven-hour sail, we arrived at the eastern side of the Peloponnese.

Our last night in Serifos was lovely. We had a sensational seafood dinner of fish, shrimp, scampi, muscles and octopus with a fresh salad. Probably our best meal so far. We are enjoying the healthy Mediterranean diet, with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and seafood.





The Peloponnese is a peninsula located at the southern tip of mainland Greece and is separated from the rest of the mainland by the Corinth canal. The Peloponnese has an indented coastline, so there are lots of bays and anchorages for us to explore. We have had several nights anchored in bays with crystal clear water, often having the bay all to ourselves, once the day-trip boats leave about 4pm. We expected this area to be very busy, due to the proximity to Athens, but this has not been the case. On the weekends there are lots of small boats out for a day-trip but during the week it has been quiet. We are doing lots of swimming, which is good exercise but also helps us keep cool.

We visited the town of Astros, mooring in the town harbour. Astros is a fishing village and tourist resort, although not very busy compared to some of the islands. It is a charming Greek village. High above the town is a Medieval castle. We walked up the hill to the castle in the morning, before it got too hot, (temperatures are currently in the low to mid 30s). The view from the castle was worth the climb. We could see the town and harbour as well as the surrounding farm land and orchards. The area is noted for its peaches.









The second day in Astros, the clouds were building up during the day, which resulted in a large thunderstorm later in the afternoon. The sky become very black, we had strong winds for about half an hour and very heavy rain, which gave SCII a good wash.

We are currently anchored off the town of Khaidhari in a very protected and enclosed bay. The bay is spectacular, as it is surrounded by large cliffs. The town is a holiday resort with fish tavernas lining the shore. Yesterday we took the dingey ashore and had a seafood lunch at one of the tavernas. We had fresh shrimp, a small bream and salad for lunch. Being Sunday lunch, it was quite busy, with lots of locals. Most of the local wore their bathers to the restaurant and went for a swim before their meal and in between courses. Some even sat in the water with a glass of wine or beer, a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Not having worn our bathers to the restaurant, we had to wait until we got back to SCII for our swim.







Thank you to everyone for your comments on the blog and Facebook. In response to some of your questions, here are our answers.

Life jackets - Yes, in some of the videos we are wearing life jackets. We tend to wear lifejackets when the wind is strong (over 20 knots) or the sea state is rough. Especially if going up to the mast, to bring in the main sail, Glenn will use the lines on the lifejacket to tether himself to the boat. If the weather is calm, we are well protected in the cockpit area, so tend not to use them.

The empty plate in front of Glenn in the last post - had contained dolmades (stuffed vine leaves) and yes they were delicious.

Fishing - yes, we have tried to catch fish but with no luck. We often tow a lure if motoring but despite seeing fish jump in the water, we have not been able to catch anything. Most of the fish in restaurants here is farmed, the locals tend to catch very small (whitebait like) fish.

Time on SCII - This year we will spend about 5 months on SCII. We will be lifting her out of the water in mid-August at the Greek island of Aegina where she will stay until April next year. We will have two weeks in Bulgaria before flying home at the end of August.

This episode's video tends to say it all - sailing in the Greek islands is not always calm waters and having fun.









We arrived in Serifos, which is in a very windy part of the Cyclades. When the Meltemi blows, Serifos tends to be right in the middle of the strong winds. When we arrived, it was only meant to be about 15 knots but we had gusts over 25 knots as we entered the bay. We anchored in the bay for a short time until the wind settled down before going into the harbour. The harbour is small and requires boats to drop an anchor and reverse up to the harbour wall. The harbour has a big chain down the middle, which used to have lazy lines attached, but these have been long gone. The chain means that great care needs to be taken not to catch your anchor. The local scuba diver makes a lot of money diving to untangle anchors at €150 per anchor. This is typical of many Greek harbours, that let their lazy lines deteriorate. Lazy lines mean than you do not need to drop an anchor, which would have prevented much of the chaos shown in the video.

We dropped our anchor, which seemed to hold for the first day but on day two we had a cross wind and it became evident that our anchor was dragging. A yacht moored next to us on day one, had a long line attached to the chain in the harbour as their anchor was also dragging so we knew this was an option. When a diver was in the water untangling an anchor from the chain in the harbour, we asked the habour master if he would thread our rope through the chain to make us secure. We negotiated a price, which was significantly less than the €150. This turned out to be an excellent move as on day three, when we planned to leave, the wind unexpectedly came up, gusting at 37 knots. This made it impossible for us to leave the harbour, not to mention all of the tangled boats opposite us blocking us in. We were tied up very securely, which meant we were mostly immune from the chaos that unfolded.

The video only shows a small portion of the chaos, as we had to stop filming as we were helping other boats whose anchors were not holding. We also had an Italian boat that managed to catch their rudder on our mooring rope. We were worried that their propeller was going to cut through our ropes that were holding us securely. We managed to get through the communication barrier and explain what they had done, there might have been some raised voices though!. There was some frantic times while we attached a rope to their boat to hold them secure, while we lengthened our lines so that they dropped down below the depth of their keel. The Italian boat was not able to drop an anchor, so they ended up being tied up to SCII for the next two days. It was a very stressful 30 minutes but we survived unscathed. The Italians presented us with a bottle of wine to thank us for our assistance, which was very nice of them. The harbour master saw us in the bakery later in the day and patted Glenn on the shoulder saying 'Well done Captain'.

Today it is still blowing with gusts up to 40 knots. We just have to sit it out and wait for the wind to die down. The island of Serifos is very pretty, so there are worse places we could be to sit out the Meltemi. We have enjoyed eating out at the restaurants that line the shore. We have reprovisioned including filling up with diesel, which is delivered to SCII by tanker. In typical Greek fashion, the driver is smoking a cigarette as we fill up. We have also enjoyed the local bakeries, including trying the local speciality of Serifos almond biscuits.







The forecast for tomorrow is for lighter winds, so hopefully we can get out of the harbour. Our plan is to head for the more protected waters of the Saronic gulf and out of the very windy Cyclades.

SCII is on the move, as we make our way from Samos to Paros. We have left the Dodecanese islands behind and we are now in the Cyclades.

Thank you for your comments on the blog. We love reading them. We ended up spending four days in Pythagorian harbour on Samos. Matt asked how we sleep when we are in ports such as Pythagorian? Even though the harbour is busy with tavernas and lots of people, it is very quiet once we go down into the cabin. Even when tavernas are playing music, we tend not to hear it in the front cabin, so we sleep well.

On leaving Samos we spent a couple of nights anchored out at the islands of Agathonisi and Arki (there is drone footage of the bay at Arki in video below). When we anchor out, all cooking is done on board. If the weather is not too windy, we will use our charcoal barbeque on the back of the boat, otherwise we cook inside. We roasted a chicken roll and vegetables in the Remoska, which gave us left over chicken for salad for a couple of days. This was good given the weather was starting to warm up.



We have only had one night in a harbour since our last blog post and that was in Lipsi. Lipsi is not the prettiest Greek islands but it has a lot of Greek character. Quaint little fishing boats, octopus hanging outside restaurants and a multitude of small churches (see the video). The town has a wonderful bakery and a well stocked mini-market for reprovisioning. We also managed to get washing done. We dined at an ouzeria on the harbour. Our meal consisted of grilled octopus, eggplant dip and fried muscles. We ordered zucchini fritters but were informed 'due to technical issues they were unavailable'. We were not sure what the technical issues were but ordered tomato fritters instead. The meal was delicious and washed down with local Lipsi red wine.









The next morning, we were up early and left Lipsi harbour at 6.15am as there was a good weather window to travel the nearly 50 miles to Amorgos. We had a good sail, although the winds were a bit variable, arriving at about 1pm. We even spotted dolphins off Amorgos, but were unable to capture them on video.

The weather forecast was telling us that the strong wind called the Meltemi was about to blow in a few days' time. So, we headed for Naxos or Paros, via Skhinousa. Naxos and Paros tend to be in a wind shadow, therefore provide a more protected anchorage when the Meltemi blows. We tried to get into Naxos harbour, with no luck, but at the northern end of Paros there is a big bay which provides good protection. We are anchored in 6m water depth, with 40 m of anchor chain, which is well dug in. The Meltemi is predicted to blow for about five days, so we will probably be here until Sunday. With the 20 to 30 knots of wind, the seas here can get very rough so we would rather wait the weather out. This has given us time to catch up on boat chores as well as catch up on the blog. Probably a fair bit of reading too.....

With the Meltemi has come cooler temperatures of about 30 degrees during the day and 22 degrees as the overnight low.
When we leave Paros, we will be going to islands that we have not visited before. So, hopefully many new adventures.